Display bin assembly



Feb. 5, 1952 w. G. STEWART DISPLAY BIN A SSEMBLY Filed April 29, 1949 .EGJ.

H INVENTOR.

f Mill 6: STEM/.477;

Patented Feb. 5, 1952 fUNlTED; STATES PATENT- OFFICE i "2,584,755 DISPLAY BIN ASSEMBLY fWilliamG. Stewart, Covington, Ky. Application April 29, 1949, Serial No. 90,480

1 Claim. (Cl. 312-1404) My invention relates to a display bin primarily for use in stores, such as ten-cent stores, hardware stores, and the-like where articles are displayed on the top ofa table or counter in bins which prevent the articles from intermingling with adjacent articles.

In displays of this kind, a great many articles of diflferent sizes and shapes are on displa so that the customer may look over. the articles and pick those which he. desires. It is usually very difiicult to provide on the top of a display stand or a table bin of different sizes for holding articles of different shapes without presenting a very unsightly and cluttered display bin and necessitating the complete rearrangement or reconstruction of the bins when other articles having different shapes are substituted for articles purchased or removed from the display bin.

It is an object of my invention to provide a display bin which maybe positioned ontop of a counter or table or in any convenient manner and-which is made up of a plurality' of bins which may be easily and quickly adjusted as to size and position on the display surface.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a display bin as described above which is extremely pleasing in appearance, eas to keep clean, and quickly changeable so as to accommodate groups of articles of many different sizes and which may be arranged in reference to each other in a pleasing and eye catching manner.

A further object of my invention is to provide a display bin having all of the above advantages which is relatively inexpensive to construct, easy to ship, and simple to erect and disassemble.

These and other objects of my invention which will be set forth hereinafter or will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading these specifications, I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which I shall now describe an exemplary embodiment. Reference is now made to the drawings which form a part hereof, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my novel display bin mounted on a display cabinet.

Figure 2 is a broken-away view of one corner of my display bin in the process of being assembled.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of one of the partition members used to form bins.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of another partition member used in forming bins.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the blocks used in forming my display bin, together ent sizes.

vrith a spacer used with the block in place of a partition strip.

Figure 6 is a cross section of my display bin taken on the section line 66 of Figure 1.

Figure 7 is a cross section similar to Figure 6 showing a modification of my invention.

Briefly, in the practice of my invention, I provide a displaybin made up of a plurality of blocks all of the same thickness,. butof differ- The blocks are placed upon a fiat surface and may be moved around as desired, and which when they are all assembled form the bottom or base of the different bins. Between the blocks I either provideupstanding strips to form partitions, or where two or more blocks form the bottom of thesingle' bin, I provide spacers between the blocks of the same thickness as my partitions. so that when the wholeis assembled, the blocks, the partitions, and the spacers will form a complete unit which is surrounded, embraced, and held in place by a frame. If it is desirable torearrange the display bin by making any bins larger or smaller, or rearranging the relative positioning of the different bins, this may be done by removing spacers and inserting partitions in their place, or, if desirable, by moving around the different sized blocks on the surface itself.

Referring to the drawings, I provide a flat surface I which is preferably mounted on a showcase 2, table, Or the like. The surface I is surrounded by a frame 3. On the surface I, I-

place a plurality of blocks 4. These blocks are preferably all of the same thickness, but of different sizes as shown in Figures 2 and 6. Block 4 is shorter in length than block 4'.

The whole base I within the frame 3 is covered with blocks and the blocks themselves are either spaced apart by spacers 5 or by upstanding strips 6 which slide between adjacent blocks in place of the spacers 5 with the major portion of their surface projecting upwardly to form a partition. In some instances, the partitions are long, as shown in Figure 4 and Figure 2 carrying the reference numeral 1.

In Figure 2, I have shown my display bin at the commencement of an assembly wherein five blocks are positioned adjacent each other and against the left edge 3 of the frame. The blocks are held apart by the spacers 5 and by a short partition piece 6. It will be noted that the lowermost spacer 5 in Figure 2 is just being slid into place. The long partition I will be moved to the left and this will form two bins, one a rela-' tively small and short bin and the other a narrow and long bin. Other blocks, of course, are assembled to the right of the partition I and the whole surface 1 is completely covered with a combination of blocks and spacers or partitions.

From the above, it is apparent that by shifting the blocks around and substituting spacers for partitions or partitions for spacers, bins of all kinds of sizes may be constructed at any position on the display bin. In some instances, the larger blocks will be used to form bins which are large, such as 8 in Figure 1. In other instances, a plurality of small bins may be formed as at 9 in Figure 1. If it is desirable to have the small bins towards the center or the front edge of the display cabinet 2, the small blocks may be interchanged with the big blocks and all of the blocks reassembled to completely cover the surface I and fill the frame 3.

While I have shown blocks in the form of rectangular parallelepipeds in Figures 1 to 6, inclusive, I show in Figure 7 a modification where the blocks 10 and l I have slanting front and rear walls. In this instance, the rear of the frame 3' and the front 3" are in a vertical position as are the partitions i2. This obviates the necessity when using a tilted surface I of blocking out the rear and front edge of the frame 3 by means of inserts l3 and 14, as shown in Figure 6.

My blocks may be composed of any material and in my preferred form I make them of black plastic, and in some instances I form a hollow block of metal with a highly polished surface. The partition walls may be made of transparent plastic such as Lucite or the like, as may the spacers 5. Or the spacers which form a part of the floor of the bins may be of the same material and appearance as the blocks 4.

In some instances, it may be desirable to have relatively shallow bins adjacent relative deep bins. In this case, blocks 4 having different thicknesses than the other blocks may be used.

From the above it is apparent that I have provided a display bin composed of a plurality of adjacent bins the size and position of which' may be varied all over the surface at will and with a minimum of effort. In shipping, the blocks may be stacked separately from the base itself as may the partition strips and the spacers. I do not intend to limit myself to any specific size or configuration of blocks or any specific set of sizes, since they may be of sizes from very large blocks to very small blocks, depending upon the sizes of the bins desired and their purpose.

It is to be understood that different forms of my preferred form may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Pat ent is:

A display bin assembly comprising a base member and side and end walls, a plurality of block members of uniform height and of different widths and lengths seated directly on said base member, spacer members adapted for insertion between selected blocks, and a plurality of bin forming partition members of different lengths for insertion between other selected blocks, selected ones of said partition members being disposed at right angles to other partition members to form bins of different dimensions in assembled relation with one or more of said blocks.

WILLIAM G. STEWART.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

